As dangerous conflicts and threats escalate, the Biden administration is not responding well. It is beset by indecision and an excess timidity, which are dressed up as prudence. While the world’s most powerful nation is reluctant to fulfill that role, the world’s second most powerful nation is more aggressive.
China is often the key driver of instability. Nations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, especially democracies, should take greater stock of this reality. Beijing pretends that its growing strength fits the interests of other nations, its conduct in international affairs belies this claim. If China displaced the United States as global leader, it would not be good for anyone, except perhaps China and its closest odious allies.
The crisis in the Red Sea illustrates the point. For weeks, Houthi rebels in Yemen have attacked civilian shipping with ballistic missiles and drones in the international waters of this crucial trade artery between Europe and Asia. The Houthis, who are proxies for Iran, want to support Hamas’s genocidal war against Israel and have taken advantage of their geographical position alongside the southern end of the Red Sea, and they are wreaking havoc. Cargoes are being diverted around the Horn of Africa, adding more than a week to transit times, delaying delivery, and driving up costs. What is China doing?
It recently warned Iran to stop the Houthi targeting of Chinese-flagged vessels, which is an entirely self-centered response rather than that of a nation that lives up to its ad-infinitum claim to seek only “win-win cooperation” with the world. Were China serious about being a complementary rather than deleterious participant to international order, it would demand that Iran stop the Houthis entirely or face immediate suspension of Chinese oil purchases. It would also deploy warships to support safe transits through the Red Sea. Instead, China wants only to make sure its own ships are protected. Such selfish disdain reflects China’s general approach to international crises.
All over Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America, China uses its “One Belt One Road” initiative to foster corruption and political obedience. Pakistan is now essentially a Chinese colony. When debt-ridden nations struggle to repay Beijing, as many do, the Chinese quickly trigger ruthless contract stipulations that give them control over a nation’s critical infrastructure.
China is also a force for instability in Ukraine.
In light of Russia’s onslaught against Ukraine’s democracy, one might have expected China’s supreme leader President Xi Jinping to restrict trade or minimally condemn President Vladimir Putin’s imperialist invasion. After all, it threatens the European Union, a prized Chinese partner in trade and diplomacy. The EU is the linchpin of China’s long-term strategy to displace U.S. global leadership by severing the trans-Atlantic alliance. That is why Chinese officials revel in French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for EU “strategic autonomy.”
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Many EU leaders have pushed in meetings with Xi for Chinese pressure on Putin, but he has refused and has provided Russia with much-needed trade to offset what Russia has lost to Western sanctions. China has also given Russia military equipment.
The lesson is clear. China claims to seek “win-win cooperation” with the world. But actions are louder than words, and Xi’s actions demonstrate China’s malignancy.